Max Collins
"Thunderstorm, Black!"'' - Max from Thunderstorm'' Maxwell "Max" Collins is a former Thunderstorm Black Ranger from Power Rangers: Thunderstorm. He is the original Black Ranger of the first generation of Power Rangers. He was played by actor Ben Easter. Ranger History Max and his close friends Carmen Rodriguez, Nicole Holden, Drew Hale and Rico Lopez were picked as the five original Power Rangers by the wise sage Telexa to defend Earth from the evil sorceress Vita. Max was chosen as the Black Power Ranger, gaining the Mastodon Thunder Coin and the Mastodon Dinozord. Quick-witted and clever, Max relies on a combination of skill, strength, and agility to win his battles. The original Black Ranger is an energetic, charismatic, and fun-loving young man. He enjoys athletics (such as basketball, American football, and scuba diving), dancing (especially to a fresh beat bumping out his friend's boombox), parties, and girls. Whenever he didn't have an arm around Nicole or Carmen, Max could be found pursuing his attractive, but hard-to-get classmate, Vanessa. Max always loved a good joke. Though he loved all the people close to him, Max's best friend was clearly Nicole. Max is extremely confident and positive. Only four occasions saw Max ready to give it up: when the Aqua Ranger took out Telexa, Gamma 5 and the Command Center while removing the Rangers from the Megazord; when his team was placed under a spell to take away their confidence; and when their Dinozords were commandeered by Lady Morticia's first monster, Pirantishead. But the first occasion happen very early in the series when his friends pretended to have forgotten his birthday. Max went off into a secluded area, and into a trap by Vita. For some time, he had to fight the powerful Knasty Knight alone. Oddly enough, despite his plentiful confidence, Max is an extreme ophidiophobe, arachnophobe, and entomophobe meaning he is terrified of snakes, spiders, and insects although, on one occasion when performing magic for a group of children seeking shelter from a monster attack, he handled two fake snakes and used them to scare off twins, Brittany and Brianna. Because of this, it can be assumed that Max's fear of snakes deteriorated over time, especially after an encounter on Vita's Island of Illusion where his strength of will was tested against his fear of snakes. Max enjoyed martial arts just as much as he did dancing and, as a result, created his own fighting style, called Hip Hop kido. The customized art consisted of dance-like maneuvers flourished with fast and powerful strikes, much like Capoeira or as seen by actor Daniel O' Neill in Bangkok Adrenaline. This effective combination of power and prowess made Max an incredibly formidable combatant. However, he would sometimes tone down his style and mimic the attacks of Drew to simultaneously strike opponents. He was also very resourceful. On several occasions, it was his cunning that led his team to victory. Such occasions included his discovery of the means to overcome the Knasty Knight who was sent to isolate and destroy him on his birthday- the monster possessed the ability to redistribute the Ranger's force in order to fry the weapons they used against him. When the storm-bringing chimera monster Goatan froze the Megazord, Max analyzed what little resources the Megazord had left and used it to regain dominance in the battle. After 8th grader, Susie Gold joined the team, she and Max quickly became close friends as a result of their similar interests. Max would call Susie "Kid" because she was the youngest of the team. When Susie was nervous about trying to engage a romantic relationship with Drew, it was Max who Susie sought for advise. Before Susie appeared (or if Susie is not at the Youth Center) Max is usually Nicole's sparring partner when practicing Karate. Susie and Max would also act as sparring partners for each other, as well. Though Nicole was the Ranger Susie selected to take on her Aqua Ranger powers after Vita eliminated Susie's link to the Morphing Grid, Max is the only other individual to don the Dragon Shield when Susie gave it to him so that it's enhanced regenerative powers could heal Max from the Oysterizer monster's acidic attack. In the Season 2 episode "Blue No More, Part 1", Max's cousin Lee was introduced, who would have a small recurring role throughout the middle of the season. Lee was very similar to Max due to their similar interests in dance and music, as well as their smooth-talking speech pattern. He also formed a friendship with Rico's crush Jasmine Harris. The two once even managed to fight off a group of Putties while they were skating. Max's teammate, Susie along with the Chandler twins started attended Riverside High School. Later on, a peace conference was soon held to be attended in Switzerland, and only three teenagers were selected to go. Max, along with Nicole and Rico were selected. With his zest for living, upbeat attitude, and charm, Zack was a natural choice at the peace conference. Three of their friends, Trey Wilkes, Jasmine Harris, and Jake Stewart would replace them as Rangers. Max's last Ranger mission was to find the Sword of Light, which he would use to transfer the Rangers' powers. Trey became Max's successor as the new Black Ranger. His current whereabouts are unknown but it is possible that he may have returned to his normal life. Trivia *Max strongly resembles Megaforce black ranger Todd Handover. *He's the only original Thunderstorm Ranger who is not featured in Power Rangers: Super Legends. *Due to the morphing order of the five original rangers, this makes Max technically the very first character in the series to morph into a Power Ranger. *Max is also the very first ranger in the series to be officially introduced. However he's not the first ranger to appear onscreen. This title belongs to Carmen. *Talking about her friends, Carmen said she loved Max, calling him fun and a great party guy who could always entertain people. * See Also Category:Black Ranger Category:Ranger Category:Power Rangers Thunderstorm Category:Second-In-Command Category:Telexa Era Power Rangers